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Scott Adams (creator of “Adventureland,” the first commercial home computer game) just posted this on his Facebook page:

Hey Scott, Something you may not be aware of is the seminal role you played in the genesis of Max Headroom. There was a TRS80 at my place of work. When folks went home a few of us would stay for a few hours and try to figure out what to do with parrots and how to avoid The Count. Your work led directly to Max – I wrote it by the way. So thank you. – George Stone

I, like many others, loved Max Headroom from his earliest days as an advertisement character and then later in the popular TV series. I had never heard that I had anything to do with your creation of Max! I am deeply honored to play even a small roll in this! Would you mind greatly if I were allowed to make this fact known? – Scott Adams

Good to hear from you. I hereby aknowledge your role in Max’s Genesis and grant you full irrevocable rights to say exactly what you like. Until I saw your work the idea of AI was a theory. Joseph Weizenbaum’s book, Computer Power and Human Reason was a beginning but it was The Count that showed me that I could get involved in an unfolding narrative and affect its outcome. It was this thought, along with a couple of others – the ever expanding TV landscape, the growth of news as entertainment and the social divide that continues to grow unabated that led to the world of 20 Minutes Into the Future, the first film and precursor of the series you saw in the US and Max’s involvement with The Coca Cola Corporation. – George